Selling Lamarckism

I complained that too many world cultures were primed to reject the idea of random evolution through natural selection because most cultures or ideologies came out of or are immersed in and dependent upon a historical dialecticism. Someone took me to task for including Hinduism in the list.

A fundamental tenet of Hinduism is that this is not a rudderless world of chance events but instead is shaped by vague metaphysical forces that manifest as “karma”, or a cycle of cause and effect that propagates in a punctuated manner through time, the mechanism of which can be harnessed by individuals to enhance their position within the universe. In essence, it is spiritual Lamarckism. It is manifested very directly in Hinduism through the approaches of Vedanta and Tantra.

It presupposes a metaphysical calculus, wherein karma past (sanchita), karma present (parabdha), and karma future (kriyamana) are judged by a deity and, upon passing a certain point, enables the soul to reach moksha, a point of spiritual singularity or ultimately recursive development. It is the dissolution of the “name form” and union with the metaphysical force that created the universe. It is a release from the yoke, or burden, of existence. It is the union of the atman with the Brahman.

Sikhism, Buddhism, & Jainism, as descendent religions of Hinduism, also share this developmental approach. It should be noted that some of Hinduism’s descendent religions, such as Buddhism or Jainism, retain the idea of karmic development while removing the Brahman as a consciously aware or morally judgemental deity.

I enjoy reading the Rig Veda and other Vedic texts as much as the next person, but while I admire their artistry, I do not share their enthusiasm for asserting that their accounts of anthropic manifestations of a cosmic guiding principle are grounded in fact.

Most religions are selling Lamarckism, in one form or another. The idea of cosmic randomness is usually reserved for the likes of Azathoth.